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Dear Archie Green Union friends,

 

First of all, a wonderful happy new year to everyone.� The AFC is now 41 years old, after a busy year of 40th anniversary activity. We are beginning the new year welcoming our Head of Programs and Research John Fenn.� He comes to us from the University of Oregon and we are pleased to have him on board.� However, we also begin the new year with the sad news of Alan Jabbour’s passing. I know some on the listserv already know this news so please forgive any repetition.� I simply want to make sure our friends and colleagues in the AFC extended family get this information.

 

Everyone at the AFC has been thinking a lot about Alan� in the past week. It has been wonderful to read people’s comments and remembrances about Alan on listservs and facebook pages far and wide.�� We, of course, knew he was very ill, but the AFC's 40th anniversary this past year provided a wonderful opportunity to spend some focused time with Alan� and celebrate his considerable vision in stewarding the AFC (and public folklore) in its early years.� If people would like to contact Alan’s wife Karen, please contact me off line at [log in to unmask]

 

We have been talking with Karen about the possibility of holding a memorial musical gathering at the AFC in the spring and she is enthusiastic about the possibility. The family does not intend to have a public funeral right now but would like to have a memorial musical gathering at a later date. I will keep everyone posted as plans progress.� In the meantime, if you are so inclined, Karen asks that friends donate to the Henry Reed Fund for Folk Artists, in lieu of flowers.� To mark his retirement from the American Folklife Center in 1999, Alan and Karen generously established the Henry Reed Fund for Folk Artists, named for Alan's mentor and dedicated to projects in support of folk artists, especially those represented in the collections of the American Folklife Center.� Since its founding, the Fund has provided small annual grants to artists, folklorists and other researchers for research, programming and preservation projects celebrating the work of numerous traditional. In 2016, grants were awarded to two individuals…West Virginia state folklorist Emily Hilliard for public programs and documentation focusing on celebrating the work of West Virginia traditional musicians:� Emily Hilliard, State Folklorist at the West Virginia Humanities Council, was awarded funds for “West Virginia Folklife Presents Ballad Singer Phyllis Marks,” a public programming and documentation project highlighting the respected West Virginia traditional ballad singer Phyllis Marks; and M�lisande G�linas-Fauteux, one of Canada’s foremost young French-language folk singers, received support to study field recordings of North American French-language folk songs in the AFC archive and to identify material for her upcoming CD “In the Footsteps of French Folksong.” If you wish to donate, please contact me offline (or just write a check and make it out to American Folklife Center.� In the memo line, write “Henry Reed Fund.”� Send it to us at American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. SE, Washington DC 20540-4610.� ATTN: Henry Reed).

 

In the meantime, I wanted to provide everyone a link to Steve Winick’s post on the AFC blog:� http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2017/01/alan-jabbour-1942-2017/

 

Best wishes to all,

 

Betsy

 

Email: [log in to unmask]

 

 

Posted by

Stephanie A. Hall

Automated Reference Services Specialist
American Folklife Center, Library of Congress